Am I... asleep?

His shut eyes placed him in a warm and quiet realm with nothing but an endless darkness. Lucas laid down in eternal bliss.

Am I back in bed?

He curled his fingers and scratched what was under him. No, that couldn't be right. The hardness below him meant that his body was still lying on solid ground. He was probably still unconscious in the hallway.

What the...? How strange... My head doesn't hurt anymore...

His migraine had disappeared. Those painful memories still lingered, but they were no longer bothering him. In fact, his head was now the part of him that was feeling the most relief. A pillow was supporting it from the shoulders up. It was creamy and soft with a bit of firmness, better than any other pillow he used throughout the years he had been existing. And not only that...

Hmm...? It sure smells nice... I thought we didn't have an air purifier in the hallway...

Lucas allowed himself to drift into this blissful ecstasy thanks to an aromatic scent that ravaged him every time he breathed. He took in everything at a slow and steady pace to fully immerse himself in its pleasantries.

Hang on... Don't I recognize this from somewhere...?

Now that he thought about it, the smell became more familiar with every subsequent inhalation; familiar to the point that he could have sworn getting corrupted by it not too long ago.

Wait... Is that... Cinnamon!?

Just as Lucas made a guess of the scent, a pair of claps resounded, and a ray of light blinded him despite the bangs of his hair shielding his already shut eyes. A burning sensation stung him on his hand, making his fingers ball themselves into a fist. Its intensity was sufficient enough to force him out of the quiet dark world and back to another called "reality."

Lucas awoke with a gasping wince. His chest rose and fell quickly from the frequency of his breathing, which had gone a little higher than normal. What he saw when he opened his eyes was blurry at first, but it was slowly sharpening into form.

"An angel?" he blurted with a whisper.

He blinked a few times to adapt to the light entering his eyes and cleared the image. Above him was an upside-down pale face, less than half of it obscured by the underside of its chest. It gazed down at him with a narrowed feline eye of a deep azure and comforted him with a smile just vague enough to have an air of mysterious intention. Its silky midnight blue hair cascaded as a beautiful frame for its expression, which was like the gaze of a parent tending to a child. However, as soon as it heard him speak, it changed its comforting smile into a crooked one.

When the identity of this enigma became clear, Lucas switched his remark, which he blurted in a deadpanned manner.

"Oh wait, it's the devil."

Another shrieking wince of pain was how Lucas reacted when a few squares of toilet paper soaked in medical alcohol forced itself to one of the bite marks on his neck. The medical alcohol on an open wound burned his nerves like fire. It took several seconds for the pain to subside.

"Lucky for you, I consider 'devil' to be a compliment," Rio cooed, her lips forming a slightly devious grin to go along with it. She strayed her hand, having finished disinfecting and cleaning the bite mark.

"Rio... of course it's you," Lucas said with no other part of him moving an inch. "Where am I now?"

"Back in your room," Rio clarified as she put away the squares of toilet paper she used. "I heard you shouting along with some noise that sounded like gunshots, so I went out to check. That was when I found you... all curled up on the floor and crying a river."

She let out a wry chuckle after saying her piece, which Lucas wasn't the least bit amused by.

He turned his head to one side, ashamed that Rio saw him in such a state. "You wouldn't understand why I did that," he said, his voice creaking and trying to sound stable.

"Maybe." Rio agreed to some extent. "Anyway, you were such a sorry sight that I just had to take it upon myself to go after those medical supplies you left downstairs. I then dragged you back to your room for treatment."

Lucas frowned. "So, you helped me only because you pitied me?"

"You can say we are even now, Lucas." Rio’s tone was soft but triumphant.

From what Lucas could understand, Rio must've felt like he was pitying her when he cleaned all the blood and sweat off her face shortly after their fight ended. For her to possess such a mentality probably meant her ego must've been of considerable size. However, pity was not what Lucas had in mind.

"You're right. Pity can be a reason," he admitted, agreeing to some extent with Rio's assumption. "But I was thinking something else as I wiped your face."

"Really, then what?" Rio asked, challenging him.

"Oh, I dunno. Maybe... I'm not a jerk like you?"

That was Lucas' answer - if he wanted Rio to get the message. Ironically, that would have also labeled him a jerk as well. Then again, it could have been a sign of pity too. Lucas was uncertain. Regardless, he gave another answer that while it wasn't what he had in mind at that time, it was still true enough to not be considered a lie.

"I don't like serving others, but I rarely have guests over, so I figured once in a while wouldn't hurt," he said with a casual shrug. "Know this. So long as you behave during your stay here, I'll continue to treat you like..."

Lucas didn't finish. He paused suddenly.

"Well?" Rio urged him to finish his answer.

Lucas tightened his lips, keeping them sealed.

"Like what!?" Rio raised her voice, losing her patience and demanding an answer.

"...Like... my princess." Lucas finally said, diverting away from the face above his. Unease was clear in the tone of his voice.

As soon as Rio heard his answer, the three words replayed themselves in her head, adorably shy tone intact. For the second time that night, she was awestruck. Her face overheated before white steam blew out of her ears. Within her false heart, a chord was struck, making it beat itself into overdrive before it slipped into a comical, non-lethal version of a cardiac arrest.

*Haaaahnnnn...*

The strength of her arms departed and they fell limp to her sides. Rio couldn't stop herself from moaning in defeat, which Lucas found to be compelling because it sounded like something not within his horizon. Rio's head cocked itself backward and hung over her back, dangling loose. Her left eye derailed into a confused spiral, spinning in countless revolutions. She was caught off-guard, not expecting Lucas to say something so endearing to her, especially after what they've been through.

Heh. Take that, Rio.

As for Lucas, he was so proud of his strategy he couldn't help but grin the same way a bandit would. Calling Rio "princess" was a little difficult to say, but the reaction he got from her made the effort worth it.

Lucas would soon find out he didn't have much time to bask in his glory as Rio wasn't the type to take a beating sitting down.

She snapped her head back into place and looked down at Lucas once more. The sharpened glare in Rio's eye and the way she bit her lower lip to prevent herself from baring her teeth conveyed the message that her face was screaming with a desire for revenge.

She snarled, "You heard nothing! Understand!?"

Lucas just gave her a half-hearted nod. His grin had adjusted to become so subtle at this point it would require a closer look just to see its perverse intention.

"Moving on, you were too heavy for me to carry, this time," Rio growled, continuing from where she left off. "Since I could not put you back to bed, I went for an alternative." Her voice toned itself down, discarding her anger in an instant and leaving Lucas with paranoia. "So, tell me... how does it feel?"

Lucas gurned the look on his face, clueless on what Rio was talking about. "How does what feel?"

Rio bent over and brought her face closer, an impish smirk painted across her lips.

Her soothing voice whispered, "To rest your head upon my lap~"

"...Huh?"

It should have been obvious, but the sheer comfort and the semi-groggy state Lucas was in delayed his realization.

The so-called pillow was Rio herself, specifically her silk-covered lap, which she placed Lucas' head on while she knelt on the floor. If Lucas wondered why Rio's face always appeared to be upside-down and above him, he now had his answer.

Now it was Lucas' turn to have a face overheating from embarrassment. Like Rio, it lasted until a jet load of steam erupted out of his ears.

"Oh... it's okay, I guess," Lucas answered after cooling down a bit. His hands clasped themselves together and fiddled, trying to hide that deep down he was saying, So... I've been calling that as one of the best pillows ever!?

"Really~?" Rio beamed a mocking grin and spoke with a partially revived mocking tone. "That does not seem to go along with how you were smiling the whole time before you woke up~"

"T-that's only because my headache was gone!" Lucas claimed, hands fidgeting.

"I suppose," Rio said, looking away for a moment to smile at herself for having the last laugh. "Also, it seems like you want to stay like this a little longer~"

She said that based on how Lucas appeared to be relaxed with the current position he was in. Lucas didn't want to admit it, but she was right, mostly.

"N-no, I'm fine, thanks." Lucas tried to get up. Rio prevented that by grabbing a handful of his hair before slamming his head back down. Besides some discomfort from getting his hair pulled, Lucas wasn't hurt in the least as his head landed back on Rio's lap, which caught and nestled it like the soft pillow it was portraying.

"I am not finished with you yet," Rio said, letting go of Lucas's hair.

She ripped a few new squares of toilet paper from the roll next to her, squirted them with a plastic bottle of medical alcohol, and applied them to the last remaining bite wound on Lucas' neck.

Just like before, he winced again.

"Oh, you poor thing~ Does it hurt~? " Rio teased, once again amused. "How about I ease your pain~?"

She lifted Lucas from his underarms then gave him a soft push from behind. This forced him to sit up a little, so it would be easier for Rio to bring her mouth closer to the wound. When strands of her hair brushed him against his neck, Lucas shivered, shut his eyes and clenched his teeth out of reflex.

"No... Don't do that again..." He begged as he was too frozen to move on his own.

The sensation he felt from Rio was not that of a wet tongue, but that of a gentle breeze. It took away his nervous tension. Instead of licking the wound again, Rio simply blew on it. In an instant, the medical alcohol’s stinging sensation was killed by a cool breath that smelled like mints.

“Ufufufufu… Really? Did you seriously think I would not mind the taste of medical alcohol~? Use your head next time, alright~?" Rio let out a soft laugh and playfully patted the thick tufts of wavy hair on Lucas' head like he was her pet.

"Okay, I wasn't thinking that time," Lucas admitted, shaking his head a little to throw Rio's hand off. He then thought about what he was so anxious about and asked with a little bit of a blush. "If I may ask, why did you try... to lick my wounds?"

Rio stopped blowing on the bite mark and pulled her head back. "Ah, you can consider it to be a force of habit among the Nihanese," she told him, scratching the back of her head with a finger. "Human saliva has natural germ-killing properties, so we often lick injuries as a method of first-aid since it costs us nothing. I guess practicing it for generations made us used to the taste of blood. By the way," she licked her lips and teeth to make sure she was certain of what she was about to say. "Yours tastes like cherries. Mostly sweet, but with some hints of a twisted sourness, too."

"Oh joy," Lucas rolled his eyes before craning and pointing to his neck. "I guess that means this was a nice snack, too?"

"No." Rio crossed her index fingers together to form a miniature "x" and switched to a more down-to-earth tone. "That tasted like junk."

Lucas looked over his shoulder with a suspicious scowl. "Uh... Define 'junk'."

"Why?" Rio tilted her head to one side, her expression unsure of how she should elaborate.

"Nevermind." Lucas conceded after noticing her confusion. It was better to leave that topic in the dark. "I think it's best you stop this wound-licking habit. I'm no expert, but I don't think human saliva works on every disease you can find in someone's blood."

"Hoh~?" Rio moved and spun on the floor until she was kneeling in front of Lucas on her side, gazing at him with a kittenesque look in her eye. "Are you saying you are worried about me~?"

Lucas swiveled his head away from the charming display; his cheeks scorched from an ember. "...Is there anything wrong with that?"

Amused at his concern, Rio giggled with a kimono sleeve held to her mouth. "No, not at all. But even if I somehow got infected, I would not be worried in the slightest," she said, her kimono sleeve adjusting to reveal a partial smirk.

"Whatever you say," Lucas accepted her statement at face value and felt the wounds on his neck, which were now dry and clean. "Anyway, now that my hand and neck wounds are all better, I guess you've done your part. Thanks."

Lucas tried to smile out of appreciation, but before he could do so, the atmosphere between himself and Rio grew anxious.

Rio stopped her jovial demeanor, which she was using to lighten the mood and to distract herself from something she would eventually have to do.

"No... not yet," she informed Lucas, the pale cheeks of her face failing to hide a light blush. She darted an eye away then brought it back to him at a snail's pace. "When I said I would heal your wounds, I meant all of them."

"All?"

It only took that one word for Lucas to grow tense from grasping the bigger picture.

After parroting, a swarm of hypothetical butterflies invaded his insides. The blurring beat of their wings rampaged within his stomach, making it churn.

Defensively, he crossed his arms all over himself and buckled his knees in to put up a guard. "You do realize that the rest is under my clothes, right!?"

While trying to keep her expression aloof, Rio shifted to remove the unwilling Lucas from her sight. "It would probably be easier for me if you did not point that out."

"Don't tell me..." Lucas looked down at the stains on his clothes. "You were going to take my clothes off while I was asleep!?"

Rio only grew more annoyed at him for his exposition. Frowning, she furrowed her eyebrows as her entire face lost control and transitioned into a state of shocking pink.

"It crossed my mind..." she admitted.

Miniature tremors erupted on the floor as Lucas shuffled his feet to make a getaway toward his bedroom door. Unfortunately, he fumbled, losing his step a few times before he could start running. His body had yet to fully awaken from his short nap, thus rendering his movements to be sloppy. This gave Rio enough time to snap herself out of her plight and race ahead of him despite a few seconds of a head start. She reached the door first, spun on her heel and stood her ground, blocking Lucas before he could even get close.

"Stop making this difficult for me." Rio conveyed her annoyance through the slanted angle of her eyebrows and pressed lips.

Following a skid from trying to stop himself, Lucas turned tail and made a beeline for his bed, intending to escape through the window he opened earlier.

His efforts were dashed, however.

Rio had already seized his right arm by the wrist before he could get away from her. A gentle but firm tug combined with the opposing tension Lucas made when he kicked his feet off the ground was all Rio needed.

The tension in the center of forces going in opposite directions threw Lucas off balance, removing his center of gravity while allowing Rio to gain control over his actions for a second. In tandem with the tug she gave, Rio spun counter-clockwise while still holding on to Lucas' wrist, allowing her to pull him to herself like his weight never mattered.

When he was within her grasp, Rio gripped Lucas by the appropriate shoulder with her free hand while simultaneously extending a leg that swept him off his feet when it tapped his heel from behind, stinging it for a split-second. Lucas fell to his back, but Rio did not drop him to the floor and make his bleeding worse. Her balletic grappling skills continued to work their magic, and Lucas found himself gliding in a semi-circle before his back made contact with the floor with not a sound or bump made.

Lucas couldn't even struggle or do anything - it all happened in a matter of seconds.

Like she was leading him into a waltz-styled ballroom dance, Rio used the principles she took to heart from Judo and Aikido to manipulate the flow of momentum between herself and Lucas in her favor. She just had to target the right body parts, execute her string of actions with impeccable timing, and most importantly, have a calm mind working together with a silent and serene heart.

But Rio wasn't finished yet. She pinned Lucas down to the floor again before he could get up by straddling him over his hips. She locked-on to one of his arms. What happened next was a case of déjà vu, but it also made Lucas learn the difference between a Rio that had gone feral and a Rio that didn't.

『腕絡 Ude Garami 腕絡』 (Figure-Four Shoulder Keylock)

Her arms slithered like a pair of snakes, darting and coiling around a single target before biting each other to ensure their target had no chance of freedom. One slid under Lucas' arm next to his shoulder before grabbing her other forearm, whose hand held a firm clasp on Lucas' wrist after bending his entire arm at an angle.

It was the same submission hold Rio failed to do when she wasn't thinking straight. A while ago, she was lost on where to put her hands and how to bend her opponent's arm. Her constant arrival at the wrong answer led her to curse her frustrations in the form of profanity, giving Lucas more than enough time to escape.

This time, however, she performed the same technique without a margin of error - no words, no wasted or ad-libbed movement, and executed within a second, maybe even a fraction of it.

Aside from having one of Lucas' arms entangled in a hold, Rio positioned herself to a form that concentrated her weight to a single point and pressed every inch of her body on top of him to keep him from escaping. Successfully executed, Lucas was imprisoned like Rio had become several times heavier. Of course, she didn't suddenly gain any weight. Rio simply knew how to pin a bigger or stronger opponent to the ground.

Lucas tried to struggle and squirm his way out. That is, until Rio lifted one of her shoulders, forcing a rotation to his arm past its limit. This simple motion was enough for Lucas to sense a wet crackle from his entangled dominant arm. It was loud enough to silence him, and the pain was comparable to a lightly pulled muscle. That was all it took for him to be warned that Rio could easily unplug his arm from its socket if she allowed herself a little more effort.

Lucas may have had his dense skeleton to thank for protecting him from blunt force trauma, but submission holds were designed to pierce through that kind of armor. They worked not only by attacking the bones themselves but were also versatile enough to target the fragile joints that connected them or the muscles and soft internal organs near them.

Simply put, Rio was the perfect counter to him in every way despite being physically inferior in normal circumstances.

"Will you cooperate with me, or shall we continue this little contest?" Rio asked, maintaining her hold and eye contact (figuratively) with Lucas.

"Why must you make things harder for yourself?" Lucas questioned her, no longer trying to back, but still showing some hostility in the way he spoke. "I would've been satisfied with what you've done so far."

"And you are being ignorant," Rio retorted.

Lucas was dumbfounded. "What?"

"I wanted you to get what you deserved, but I was not thinking right. In the end, I went too far and made you bleed, so it would be preferable that you do not rob me of my chance to make up for my mistakes."

For someone who reveled in violence, Rio seemed regretful of what transpired. While Lucas was gaining an understanding of the morals she followed, he still shuddered at the idea of letting her see him in such a vulnerable state.

"But..."

"I can understand why you are nervous..." Rio pressed on, reluctant but still determined to pay the price. "...but If you allow me to treat the rest of your wounds, I will do what I can to make things less uncomfortable for you."

Lucas was perplexed. "Less uncomfortable?"

"Mm-hmm..." Rio nodded and blushed a little, and not because there were almost no gaps between the person below her and herself.

Despite what Rio promised, Lucas was still unwilling. On the flip side, he didn't have much of a chance to weasel his way out. He was also out of options. It was already proven that Rio could catch and restrain him if he tried to escape. If her treating the rest of his wounds could erase the last fractions of animosity between them, then it was best to just get it over with.

"Alright," Lucas complied. Although both of them had full-body clothes on, Lucas was still subjected to an otherworldly feeling - a female’s body melting onto him. "C-could you get off me, first?" he said after following suit in blushing.

With Lucas granting his consent, Rio disentangled her complex hold, freeing his arm before she lifted a leg to get off him.

As Lucas pushed himself up while settling his fragile mind, he requested that the lights in the room be turned back off. He suggested that doing so might help make the whole experience less nerve-wracking even if by just a little bit.

No argument came from Rio. Seeing in the dark was nothing new to her.

With her agreement to his terms, Lucas braced himself and clapped his hands twice in quick succession, and the room darkened to where they could only see what the moonlight shined on and what was closest to them.

"Now then, take off your clothes..." Rio said, hands grasping each other behind her back before transitioning to a whisper. "...in front of me."

"WHAT!!!!?" Lucas reeled back. It was a given that Rio would see him exposed, but for her to say such a thing was just making the situation more awkward.

Rio twiddled a finger in her hair, forming temporary spirals on its raven silk. She was a little shy from requesting something so assertive, but she also seemed to be a little worked up.

"Seriously, I'm learning something new about you every minute." Lucas deadpanned as the rest of him trembled to move.

"I am going to see every inch of your body, anyway!" Rio forced herself to say, hands thrown down and balled into shaking fists. After that, she let out a sigh, softened her voice and loosened her fingers. "No one else will know. Only us."

While that was a little reassuring, it wasn't enough to make things easier. Lucas still didn't want to expose himself in front of another person - not again after such a long time, but time itself wasn't waiting for him. He needed to rest so he could be ready for what may happen the next day.

With both hands, Lucas started with the least embarrassing article of his clothing to remove. As expected, anxiety permeated every fiber of his body as he pinched the hem of his sweater.

It'll be fine... It's in front of a girl, this time.

He assured himself and took another glance at Rio to solidify his thoughts before forcing himself to pull through.

He took deep breaths as he slid his head into the biggest hole of his sweater while pulling it up. Deep breathing was Lucas' secret weapon to attaining relief whether he was nervous before fights in the Underground Arena or moments that could leave him embarrassed such as this.

It worked to some degree, this time.

The time it took for Lucas to remove just his sweater would probably bore a person to death, and the removal of his pants took even longer. Still, because of its content, Rio was treated to about two-thirds of a minute's worth of a strip show. Her watchful eye marveled the state his body was in as it was laid bare before her.

Poorly done stitches were noticeable in every nook and cranny no matter where she looked. Blood was leaking out of every wound with some already clotted. Some trails of it dried out leaving red blemishes on Lucas skin. Lucas sure wasn't exaggerating when he said he came out of a life-or-death situation.

"T-there, you happy now!?" Lucas held his shoulders. He stood straight while shuddering in only a pair of black boxer shorts. "Now how will you--"

Before he could finish, his jaw dropped in awe.

Within his field of vision, Rio turned her back on him before proceeding to show how she meant to make things even between them.

While gazing at Lucas over her shoulder, her hands went behind and felt for the loose ends of the sash around her waist. Both hands trembled the moment they found their respective ending strands, but Rio didn't stop herself, and slowly pulled both ends away. The loops of the ribbon behind her waist compressed into its knot until it became untied, and the long sash that kept her clothing together fell to the floor in an unkempt bundle. Her hands moved on to the robe's crisscrossing collars around her neck, which she separated to reveal the pale skin once hidden beneath them.

Just like how Lucas took his sweater and pants off in front of her, Rio intended to spare him the humiliation by disrobing herself in front of him.

She tried to keep her face stoic, but she was left blushing mad with quivering lips. She had just arrived at the part where her bare shoulders were peeking out of her kimono when--

"Okay, I get it!" Lucas held an open hand in front of his face to obscure his sight while urging Rio to stop. "There's no need for you to go that far."

In response to his words, Rio grabbed hold of her kimono’s collars and gripped them tightly before the silk robe could slide off her body. However, she didn't stop because Lucas told her to do so.

"Lucas...” she beseeched him. “Look at me.”

Hearing her shaky but somewhat appealing request made Lucas' heart skip a beat. He was losing himself to his adolescence, but a part of him carried empathy and guilt.

"Do you really want to go through with this?"

He tried to stop her because once again, his guilt was affecting him. Now that he had returned to thinking rationally, Lucas believed he'd already caused enough psychological harm to Rio when he pointed out her issues, which he previously failed to realize were all beyond her control. He believed Rio stripping in front of him was only hurting her further due to feelings of shame or self-consciousness. Those feelings, he knew them all too well.

From the countless assassinations she undertook, Rio used everything in her power to get the job done while keeping her emotions suppressed. Distracting a target by showing off a bit of her skin was just one of the many tools she utilized. She had gotten used to performing it after several times she lost count off, and she had no repulsive memories to worry about since dead targets won't remember her anyway.

What she lacked experience in, however, was disrobing with her emotions intact in front of someone who would live to see another day. Lucas was not an assassination target and no longer a witness casualty ever since she forged her contract with him. His memory of seeing her exposed will be taken into his head instead of his grave for the time being. The fact that she even passed off doing something like this as a joke made her feel even worse.

Despite this setback, Rio had no intention of backing out, not with how far they've already gotten. She savored every second of Lucas unclothing himself because she had pent-up desires that were reawakened after a long period of slumber. Besides making things even between Lucas and herself, Rio considered this to be her penalty for giving in to what she was deprived of as a blossoming young woman.

"You were curious about me when we tried to sleep... right?" she asked Lucas while adjusting her grip on her collars.

Lucas made sure Rio was out of his sight before answering, "There's no point in lying now, is it?" His face burned brighter when he admitted it. "I mean, it's not every day that something like this would happen to me..." He abruptly shook his head and re-worded his answer. "...No, more like I thought something like this would never happen to me."

Rio nodded even though she knew Lucas wouldn’t notice.

"I think I felt the same. Maybe that was why I did not want to face you in bed." She narrowed her eye and murmured in the heat of the moment, "It has been years since the last time I was alone with a boy."

"Wait, what!?" Lucas swiveled his head to Rio after catching her say something that grabbed his attention.

"Eh!?" A chill struck Rio in the spine, forcing her senses to wake up. It was too late to hide what she had already blurted. "I-I made a mistake in my English!" she claimed as she rubbed one foot behind the other leg. The thumbs of her hands fidgeted on the smooth silk of her clothes.

"Oh, I-I see..." Lucas said, pushing his thumbs against each other as he pretended to be convinced. "It's a common mistake for anyone that speaks more than one language. Yeah, that's... that's gotta be it, right?"

Rio bobbed her head several times, almost making her hair flip over it.

"A-anyway, I am getting tired of holding my kimono up!" She almost bit her tongue as she spoke in an uncontrolled frenzy.

Even though she was determined to continue despite her frantic mannerisms, Lucas wanted to give her one more chance.

"You can still back out you know? Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

"I have no idea whether I should say yes or no," Rio answered before pursing her lips. "But I watched you take your clothes off without looking at anything else. I think you deserve to do the same." She turned around to face Lucas, aggravating him with a shot of her exposed shoulders down to her collarbones. "This curiosity we are having over each other will just become a hindrance later if it stays, so... how about we put an end to that right here and now and just let it all out?"

Lucas had his doubts that showing off to each other would work as Rio claimed. Still, she was adamant about going through with it after the progress they made so far. Deciding to stop trying to understand everything and just let things go naturally, Lucas swallowed a gulp of air and saliva in anticipation.

"If you say so." He conceded, but a part of him was elated.

Before she resumed, Rio asked Lucas to reveal his eyes as he could easily pretend to watch her thanks to the curtain of wavy chocolate-brown hair that obscured them. Heeding her words and finding no harm since she already knew that secret, Lucas swept his hands through his hair starting from his forehead until there was nothing to keep his eyes safe from stares of anything.

They were still colored a ghostly white, just as Rio remembered from the first time she recoiled at the sight of them. Those faded pupils, iris, and sclera... They were so unusual that they were likely to frighten the average person or at least repulse them from who they belonged to.

Now that she looked at them again, they no longer appeared to be frightening. The round almond shape they formed on the anxious face they were gazing from made Lucas look like a timid puppy. Timid, but with a speck of excitement lurking beneath.

His eyes were now on her. Rio took this as her cue.

"Make the most of this while it lasts because I do not think this will happen again." One-by-one, all of Rio's fingers released their grip on her kimono. "Here I go."

The silk robe took its time to slide down and reveal the feminine figure it was hugging. Lucas fought to keep his composure in check, but he couldn't stop the hammering in his chest as his eyes drifted down every last detail.

Starting with Rio's slender shoulders, which he already had a glimpse off, he could only imagine how easy and comforting it would be if someone wrapped their arms over those smooth and delicate parts as they rested their chin on her hair. The bewitching pleasantries of its cinnamon scent would be ecstasy.

Then the descending kimono unveiled Rio's chest, which was wrapped by a long strip of bandages. The front was tightly bound to the point that barely any cleavage was exposed not unlike the back, which wasn't shy to show off her robust shoulder blades.

Rio paused. She noted the direction Lucas' eyes were pointing at and despite some uneasy feelings, it flattered her.

"In case you want to know, I often tie my chest down so I could move with nothing holding me back," she explained while gazing away and suppressing the urge to cross her arms over her chest.

Lucas nearly thought his heart would jump out of his throat and in a flash, diverted his attention away after finding out he was caught staring even though it was to be expected. Amidst that, the context of what Rio said made him speculate.

So... they only appear to be small?

Her breasts looked like they were suffocating and trying to break free from their tight bindings. It made Lucas ponder over their actual size as his shoulder angel did say they were neither big nor small but the fine line in between. After giving it some thought, Lucas decided it was better to forget about it lest he might go overboard and ask Rio to unravel her chest bandages as well. It may have been Rio's idea for the two of them to strip down, but there was still a line neither one of them should cross.

"Hey, look back here," Rio urged Lucas, cheeks flushing. "I am almost done."

Lucas lagged his sight back to the person in front of him and caught sight of Rio's waist, which was the most recent to be laid bare. It was slender with serious inner curves on its sides that transitioned to a pair of wider and firm hips. That flat and delicate stomach was just teasing him with its hints of toned abdominal muscle. Every detail was enticing to the point that Lucas even chastised himself for thinking Rio's small belly button... looked kind of alluring. He clasped his hands together, discouraging himself from getting near the thought of wrapping his arms around that waist, only convincing them to not give in to temptation when he reminded himself of the dire consequences for doing so.

Then Lucas got his second surprise when he saw what Rio wore between her lean and shapely calves. Attached to thin white ropes that went around her hips was a plain white loincloth. With how skimpy it already appeared to be in front, Lucas already had an idea of what to expect from the other side - minimum coverage of the nether region.

A sarashi and a fundoshi. Those were Rio's choice of undergarments. From looks alone, it was easy for Lucas to deduce them to be old-fashioned and from an era centuries before either himself or Rio was born.

And yet, Rio flaunting herself in such primitive clothing came to be far more appealing to him than any lingerie or swimsuit-clad character from the light novels he borrowed from Davis. He couldn't comprehend why.

As Rio's white kimono hit the floor, Lucas saw in full what the human layer of this [Renegade] looked like. Only one thought was on his mind.

That shoulder angel wasn't exaggerating. Not... at... all.

Rio was truly bestowed with a figure that the highest of beings would dare not to create. It was synonymous with one word.

"Sinful."

With open arms outstretched to her sides and her dainty footsteps tapping the floor, Rio walked toward Lucas with no abrupt changes in her movement.

Her narrowed feline eye glowed in the dark, and her lips were slightly curled on both ends to resemble that of a cat's. It was difficult to tell if such a smile was meant to be playful, sly, or if it was even a smile at all.

But as the distance between them inched closer, agitation struck and held Lucas by his throat. Breathing became harder with each step Rio took. They were now stripped to the bare minimum. That itself was the prelude to a warning Lucas didn't figure out until Rio was within a few feet away.

The very [Law] Lucas feared, the dreaded [Reaper's Embrace], was now wielded at one of its most critical levels of lethality.